Got up this morning and saw that today might be the last day to hit 60 for quite awhile, so I thought I'd take advantage of my new softop, pull the 3 windows and take the TJ into work. Plus, I had to spend about a 1/3 of the day driving between several offices for meetings, so why not?
Got to work, no issues. Left for the first meeting, stopped along the way for some coffee and when I got back in the TJ to head out I thought "feels like I had to really turn the key hard for it to start". Nah, it's fine.
Leave my first meeting, hop in and fire her up and thought "okay, that doesn't feel right". It started, but man I really had to crank on that key to get it to make contact.
Second meeting done, hop in ol' reliable here and... nothing. Got the key turned as far as I'm comfortable without breaking something and nothing. Shit.
Quick thinking, gotta get to the next stop... Grab the leatherman out of the glovebox, pop the hood, pull the starter relay and jump the power side of the circuit. She fires up like a boss.
Finish up at my next stop, come out prepared. Pop the hood, grab the leatherman, jump the relay terminals like it's normal while people look at me. No problem.
Driving back to the main office, the wife calls and says "I'm hung up, can you pick the kids up and do gymnastics?" Dammit, yes. Whatever.
Get back to the main office, go to turn off the TJ and the lock cylinder rotates backwards, I pull the key, and the damn thing is still running. Ok. Think. Put it in 5th, stall the motor... Perfect, but the radio and everything is still on. Cool, grab the 13mm, I'll just pull the ground off the battery. Problem solved.
So this is the rest of my day. Still another couple stops, then to pick up the kids, then on to gymnastics. The starting procedure is now: Connect negative battery cable - pull starter relay - jump terminals with leatherman pliers - replace relay - button it up and go drive.
Shutdown procedure is: Stall vehicle in 5th - pop hood and disconnect negative cable. WTF. This is normal life now. I made like 6 more stops under these conditions. It's cool though, everyone looking at me in the parking lot.... It's cool.
Got to work, no issues. Left for the first meeting, stopped along the way for some coffee and when I got back in the TJ to head out I thought "feels like I had to really turn the key hard for it to start". Nah, it's fine.
Leave my first meeting, hop in and fire her up and thought "okay, that doesn't feel right". It started, but man I really had to crank on that key to get it to make contact.
Second meeting done, hop in ol' reliable here and... nothing. Got the key turned as far as I'm comfortable without breaking something and nothing. Shit.
Quick thinking, gotta get to the next stop... Grab the leatherman out of the glovebox, pop the hood, pull the starter relay and jump the power side of the circuit. She fires up like a boss.
Finish up at my next stop, come out prepared. Pop the hood, grab the leatherman, jump the relay terminals like it's normal while people look at me. No problem.
Driving back to the main office, the wife calls and says "I'm hung up, can you pick the kids up and do gymnastics?" Dammit, yes. Whatever.
Get back to the main office, go to turn off the TJ and the lock cylinder rotates backwards, I pull the key, and the damn thing is still running. Ok. Think. Put it in 5th, stall the motor... Perfect, but the radio and everything is still on. Cool, grab the 13mm, I'll just pull the ground off the battery. Problem solved.
So this is the rest of my day. Still another couple stops, then to pick up the kids, then on to gymnastics. The starting procedure is now: Connect negative battery cable - pull starter relay - jump terminals with leatherman pliers - replace relay - button it up and go drive.
Shutdown procedure is: Stall vehicle in 5th - pop hood and disconnect negative cable. WTF. This is normal life now. I made like 6 more stops under these conditions. It's cool though, everyone looking at me in the parking lot.... It's cool.
